Deadline: 2013, June 30. Between wealth and well-being: consumption, psychology and quality of life

Journal of Social Research & Policy invites original paper submissions for a special issue on “Between wealth and well-being: consumption, psychology and quality of life”, to bring together papers concerning mutual relations between growing standard of life, prosperity and well-being in modern societies.

Academics, especially those doing research in psychology, sociology, anthropology and economics, have always been interested in the subject of the impact of cultural, social, and economic change on individuals and societies. Apparently, changes brought about by prevalent growing wealth and consumer culture may have both positive and negative consequences. On the one hand, the changes make life easier and increase the standard of living as well as lead to a rapid advancement of technology. However, focusing on wealth may decrease well-being, sense of affiliation and the quality of social relationships and it may also result in neglect of culture and art and mindless destruction of the natural environment. Therefore, it is really crucial to study and indicate the threats produced by the changes and look for precautions against them. There are a lot of import ant questions to be answered, i.e.:
What are the individual and social benefits and costs of the permanent economic growth?
Is being wealthy and focusing on consuming and buying a good strategy for happy life? In what way? What kind of consumption may increase our well-being?
Is it good to be happy?
In what way may the concept of happiness be a product of consumer culture?
How can individualistic vs. collectivistic values strengthen the concept of happiness seen as a pursue to wealth and possession? Why?
What can stop the development of consumer culture? Is spirituality a good alternative nowadays?
What are the strategies to preserve health and well-being? How can we improve the existing measures of the well-being?
We invite original and empirical papers, written in a good English language on the subjects of:
Consumption, values and social change
Indications of well-being and ill-being in consumer culture
Psychological and social costs and benefits of consumption societies
Values, well-being and quality of life
Materialism, mercantilism and well-being
Self-regulation, self-control and consumption
Money time and happiness
Social influence, materialism and consumerism
Self-esteem and consumption
Consumption vs. spirituality and well-being
Strategies of healthy and happy life
Measures of well-being and happiness
All submissions will be peer reviewed. For guidelines on manuscript preparation and submission, please visit the journal website. Please send any inquiries to Anna Maria Zawadzka psyamz@univ.gda.pl, or Magdalena Żemojtel-Piotrowska psymzp@ug.edu.pl
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 30 June 2013